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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1368360
This article is part of the Research Topic Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Young People View all 39 articles

Prevalence of online sexual harassment and online bullying: A nationwide survey among high school students in Denmark

Provisionally accepted
Maj Britt D. Nielsen Maj Britt D. Nielsen *Veronica Pisinger Veronica Pisinger Amalie Kusier Amalie Kusier Janne Tolstrup Janne Tolstrup
  • National Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Using data from a nationwide survey among high school students in Denmark, the aim of the current study is to measure the prevalence of online bullying and online sexual harassment and assess gender and age differences in exposure. Methods: We used data from the Danish National Youth Study 2019, which is a nationwide web survey among high school students, including general, commercial, preparatory and technical high schools. Data were collected from January to April 2019 through a self-administered questionnaire in the classroom. A total of 29,086 students participated (response rate: 66%). The survey included questions about online sexual harassment (victimization and perpetration) and online bullying.Results: Approximately 11% of students reported receiving sexually offensive inquiries online, and about 10% received a sexual image/video of others without the subjects' consent. Additionally. 4% experienced that other people shared a sexual image/video of them without their consent within the last twelve months. The most common type of online bullying was feeling ignored by others online (25%), followed by someone spreading rumors or writing nasty things about them (13%), and receiving threats/unpleasant messages (12%). Gender results were mixed.

    Keywords: cyberbullying, online bullying, Online sexual harassment, Internet victimization, Cyber violence, High school students, adolescents, Young people

    Received: 10 Jan 2024; Accepted: 01 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Nielsen, Pisinger, Kusier and Tolstrup. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Maj Britt D. Nielsen, National Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.